27th December, 2014
A rights activist and legal practitioner, Mr Fred Agbaje, has advocated for the appointment of lawyers in private practice as judges to enhance the legitimacy of the selection process.
He said this in a telephone interview with NAN on Saturday that greater roles and power should also be given to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in the appointment of judges.
“The NBA ought to get more responsibility to contribute meaningfully to the judiciary sector’s reform.
“We know ourselves as lawyers and expect that those of us that have proven their worth as credible persons ought to be given Bench appointments to retain confidence in our courts,” Agbaje said.
“It is very necessary too that the qualifications of persons chosen to be on the Bench or promoted to higher positions in the courts are known ahead by stakeholders in the sector,” he added.
Agbaje said that it was important to ensure the independence of the nation’s judiciary for optimum performance.
He said a situation whereby the judiciary was still fiscally dependent on the executive arm of government for its operations was counter-productive to the administration of justice.
According to him, the hype about public-private partnership initiative of governments is yet to be relevant in the judiciary.